


As Fate May Have It

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Aquariumstuck, Blood, Cussing, Flirty, Fluff, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Gay, Gay Romance, Gore, M/M, Mermaidstuck, Merman Dirk, Sadstuck, m/m - Freeform, not really sorry for this so deal with it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-04-07 13:03:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4264218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dirk Strider was born a merman, who ended up falling in love with a human. He had always been warned about their kind by his older brother. Humans were supposed to be nothing more than evil creatures that only cared about themselves, hunting merfolk ruthlessly, polluting the world's oceans, and disrupting the ocean life. Dirk however, wants to believe otherwise, and believe that not all humans are as bad as they seem.</p>
<p>Jake English was born a human. He dreamed of adventure, and had a fascination with the ocean that he couldn't quite fathom. His interest started at a young age, and he now found himself working at a local aquarium. And that, is where it gets interesting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Had He Listened

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is very much appreciated! Don't be afraid to critique! I want to improve my work were possible! Thanks!   
> ~Author

Dirk had always been a curious child. Even for a merman. His older brother, Dave, always had struggled to keep the boy out of trouble.

 

But this? This was a mess that even Dirk seemed to find too much to handle. He didn't even want to look at the ghastly sight that was presented before him, even though it had already been seen by his golden orange eyes. It was almost as if he believed that the less he saw it, the less real it was. But Dirk knew better than to think that way. He knew that this was all too real. He removed his hands from his face, which he had cupped over his eyes to hide from what horrors awaited him.

Small ocean waves gently lapped up at the tip of his tail, now tattered and turning the salt water a crimson red. Just a little higher up, his tail was tightly wrapped in rope. The fibers had dug into his orange, scaly tail, which was now dripping red onto the sand under him and staining it with his blood. Dirk tried to sit up a bit, but was greeted by a sharp pain in his chest. Two of his ribs were broken, and there was a large, dark, purplish-black bruise on the left side of his chest.

Dirk let out a small whimper as his brain seemed to finally realize the extent of his injuries, and the pain kicking in. His head twisted to lay lazily with his left cheek on the sand. There was no getting out of this. Even if he somehow managed to work through his pain to somehow get back into the ocean, there was no telling if he could last long enough to swim back to his village for help.

He had been out late the other night, despite Dave's warnings about an incoming storm. There was a secret grotto that he had heard about, where he had heard there was a mystical item that could... well... that didn't matter now. He had searched the wrong grotto anyway. The waves had smashed him hard into some rocks, and had knocked him out as he had washed onto shore.

Dirk's eyes closed as he gritted his teeth. His tail was throbbing badly and his head had a splitting pain on his right temple, presumably where he had been hit and knocked out. He had no clue what he was going to do, or what would happen to him.

"Hey! You!" a voice shouted from a distance. 

Dirk's eyes snapped open. Just a little down the beach, there was a boy. The boy seemed to be running towards him, his green button-up shirt trailing back behind him in the breeze. Dirk panicked. It was a human, and his brother had always warned him about humans. Dirk squirmed, yelping quietly as pain spiked in his chest and tail. He did his best to try and inch closer to the water, but all he managed to do was rock slightly from side to side on his back.

The boy looked at him, a bit of surprise on his face, before kneeling down next to him. Dirk didn't see hatred in this boy's green eyes, however, looking past the boy's glasses to see them. He calmed down slightly, no longer squirming.

"Shhhhh~" the boy said soothingly, with a slight British accent. The boy placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "It's okay... I'm going to try and help you, alright?"

Dirk looked up at him curiously, not saying a word. 

The boy pulled out a strange, square looking device, and started talking into it. This confused Dirk a little bit, not knowing that this flat device was actually a cellphone. 

"Yes hello?... Yes this is Jake English... Yes... You're going to want to bring the truck down here.... no the marine truck we use for rescues..."

There was a long pause as the boy, now presumably known as Jake English, glanced down at Dirk.

"What is it we're rescuing...? Um.... sir? You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Jake said, talking to the person on the other end of the phone, biting his lip, "I-it's actually... a...um... a merman."


	2. The Boy Who Dared

Jake had always been a dreamer. Where his fascination with the ocean came from, no one knew. He was a boy with the taste for adventure. He supposed that perhaps it was the fact that most of the ocean was unexplored that peaked his interest.

The last thing he had ever expected was to be sitting in the back of his company’s rescue truck with a merman. Wait, did I just word it like it was _his_ company? My bad, I meant the company that Jake _worked for_. No, Jake was just twenty years old. He was in the middle of his summer break from college, working for a marine center as he worked to become a marine biologist.

The merman seemed to by eyeing him shyly, and flinched whenever anyone else got close to him. However, the merman seemed to be perfectly comfortable near Jake. After a while, the medics in the truck just had Jake next to the merman as they worked to get the ropes off of his tail. He seemed to remain more stable as he did so. 

The merman appeared to be in such bad condition, it was a wonder he survived. He knew there had been a big storm the other night- strong enough to knock out all the power and keep him awake at night with claps of thunder and strikes of lightning. He supposed that perhaps that was what happened to the merman. With all the blood he had seen on the sand, as well as how much he was bleeding now in the truck, it was a wonder how the merman was still conscious. However, he was still very pale and sickly looking. 

They soon all got to the marine biology center, which also doubled as an aquarium. The merman was rushed into a medical room, but Jake wasn't allowed back there. He hadn't worked there long enough to have clearance, nor could he serve as any help. The Brit worked there to help take care of the creatures in the exhibits, not to actually medically help them. Jake sighed, grabbing his cleaning supplies to start work for the day. 

But still, even as he started cleaning fingerprints off the glass of tanks, he couldn't help but wonder if the merman would be okay. He could still remember the fear fresh in his eyes. The pain.

No, he mustn't think of the merman. He didn't even know his name. Why was he so concerned. I mean yes, it was a merman, but it felt like maybe that wasn't the reason he was worried.

And so the boy kept cleaning on, the thought of the strange, bronzy-orange merman in his mind the entire time.


	3. First Encounters

It had been about a week since the merman was brought into the marine center, and yet the tan brunette had not heard a single word about the other since. Everything seemed to be very 'hush, don't speak a word'. Jake wasn't sure whether or not to find that worrying or slightly frustrating. After all, it was he who had discovered the other in the first place. Shouldn't he be allowed to speak with the other?

The tanned Brit had tried to inquire about the newest patient in the medical center, but no one seemed to be letting him in on any information. There was a lot of tension in the air, especially when it came to his boss, the manager of the entire center. Each and every day, he seemed to get more and more stern and frustrated. 

Ah yes, a week later, and the bronze merman was still on the mind of the green eyed boy. He was about to give up all hope of finding out anything when his boss came out with a growl and a scowl. "Hey, you. Jack English! Help me out here will you? The unoccupied tank? I need that cleaned up before opening. That merman is going in there." The manager then left without another word. 

Jake knew better than to argue about his name, let alone ask questions. So he got his cleaning things, consisting of come environmentally safe cleaners that were safe and healthy for the creatures in the aquariums, as well as a ragged brown cleaning cloth worn from use. 

Upon further examination of the empty, waterless tank, he frowned. The last creature that had been in here was a sea turtle that had been caught in a trap. For a while, it was one of the main attractions that brought people in. With all the people coming in, people were paying the price of admission. Of course, this was great for the marine biology sector, but a lot of the money didn't even go to any of the research or anything of the sort. No, Frank, Jake's boss, just ended up keeping all the profits to himself. The thing that bothered Jake the most was that the turtle was perfectly healthy, and could have been returned to the ocean. The turtle, however, ended up dying while in captivity.

That wasn't the only thing on Jake's mind about this tank either. This tank was much too small for Jake to move around comfortably in. It was only about a ten by ten. Jake could imagine that if he were ever stuck living in here, he would be extremely claustrophobic. This certainly was not a suitable environment for a creature as big, graceful, and as beautiful as the bronze merman. 

Jake finished his assigned duties, before deciding to confront his boss about the problems. Taking a deep breath, Jake held his head tall, arched his back, and marched confidently into his boss's office. 

"Excuse me sir, but I think there is-"

Nothing.

No one was in the office. How strange.. 

Jake checked his wristwatch. It was still about two hours until opening, and Frank was  _always_ in his office at this time. No matter what. No exceptions. This was surely something peculiar and perhaps even something to be worried about. 

Jake started to search around the facility, his momentary confidence that he had briefly put himself into the mindset to have was starting to face as worry instead preoccupied his thoughts. What would cause Frank to act like this? What if something bad happened to him and he didn't know?

Jake was able to slip into the back room and into the medical facility, the early hours of the morning showing that no one had yet arrived for work. Strange noises echoed through the corridors of the facility... pained noises. 

Suddenly Jake was running. He ran as fast as he could towards the sound. What the hell could be causing something or  _someone_  to make such heart wrenching noises?!

Jake burst through the door. But this was the last thing Jake had ever expected to witness. He had not expected to see his boss with a whip in hand. He had not expected to see the widened orange eyes of a merman, fearing for his life as he was sprawled out and tied to a metal table. The merman was flipped over on his stomach and there were gash marks in his back from what Jake could very easily assume to be the result of the leather whip. Jake cupped a hand over his mouth as he saw the tears and anguish on the fish-tailed male. 

"  _This, Jake English, is definitely an 'oh fuck' moment..._ " he thought with horror to himself. 

 


	4. Uh Oh

Dirk stared at the green eyed human, the one that had the very clear name tag that named him "Jake English". Little did he know however, that he had mumbled the name out softly as he had caught sight of it. The man with the leather whip quickly turned his attention from Jake back to Dirk with a shocked face. 

"Since when could you read?! Or read English?!" he hissed out.

See, the reason this man was doing all of this in the first place could be described in a word or two: greed. Yeah. So just one word. But Dirk had a lot more words he could use to describe the man, but that would involve a long and very upset tirade that would take up way too much time and probably make everyone slam their head in a door. Very hard. You see, Dirk didn't think anyone would care anyway.

This man had been abusing Dirk with many forms of torture in the past couple days. Stitches were torn open, new wounds were created. Today was the day that he had went as far as to abuse him with a whip. He supposed for once he was glad that the other human had decided to show up, although he would have appreciated it earli- NO! What the hell was he saying? Humans! All of them! They were all bad! Especially this one, who wanted to get out every piece of information about his people. At first, the man had been trying to establish the fact that he could talk. But now... he would know for sure that this merman could speak. Now he would want more information... where his tribe was... what weaknesses they had... strengths.

Dirk would never let the information slip of course, but that didn't stop him from currently existing in misery.

The bronze eyed merman stared up at the man with defiance and disgust, offering no information to provide as an answer to his question. In return, the man struck Dirk across the face with the back of his hand. Dirk yelped and pressed his now reddened and stinging face to the cool metal in hopes of relieving the burning sensation.

Then the man Jake knew of as his boss turned and glared at his employee. "Get back to work. And if you tell anyone what you've seen..." Dirk didn't see whatever gesture had been made at the other, but he assumed it was threatening in some way.

Perhaps this human would prove himself to be different? Would the boy choose to help him or follow orders? Dirk looked up briefly at the boy with pleading eyes, a bit of hope flickering in his eyes at the thought that perhaps this boy, the one who seemed so sweet from at the beach would serve as his escape.

The brunette swallowed hard, and nodded. "Yes sir... right away. I understand..." Jake then slowly backed out of the doorway very slowly, pale faced and never taking his eyes off Dirk. But there was a strange look in his eyes. Dirk couldn't tell if perhaps his mind was imagining it to give him hope, but he could have sworn he saw some sort of determination in his eyes, along with emotions like pity. HIs eyes communicated one clear thing to him.

_"I'm going to get you out of here."_


End file.
